February 25, 2000
It had been three weeks since my first reading for this sitcom. In that time, I guess they had gone to the network with a few candidates for JACK and nobody was cast. Back to the drawing board.
I thought maybe I was going back in to read for Gil Junger, since I had just worked with him on Movie Stars and he would be directing this pilot. I know I read for both creators/executive producers last time I went in so I wondered who they could add to the mix besides Gil. Turns out no one. In fact, at this 'callback' I read for less people than I did at the first audition. That's not a great progression. But I did get a note from the writer. He felt (or someone felt) that my version of JACK at the first audition was a little too wimpy and that no one would want to root for JACK or want to be friends with JACK if everyone is his life pushed him around and he just took it. (I guess they don't watch CBS' own Everybody Loves Raymond. Anyway...)
I read the new audition scene, which was basically one of the old ones rewritten slightly, trying to incorporate that note and make him a little more 'playful with his brother,' as it had been put to me. Did I accomplish it? I don't know. I didn't feel like I did as I was plodding through the material, and I have to say I think it made it all a little less funny to have JACK not be a full-on victim of his brother's tactics. But that's not for me to decide while I am trying to get the role.
I did my damnedest but much like this morning's audition, it just
didn't feel like a perfect fit between me and the show or me and the character.